If you're into mythology/cryptozoology, I did some translation from Old Norse and Old Icelandic this summer to put together what is probably the most complete syntheses (in any language) of [[Hafgufa]] and [[Lyngbakr]], two legendary sea monsters. Bob On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 12:17 PM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud(a)fairpoint.net>wrote;wrote:

On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 10:37 AM, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote: I have set myself the task of reading every article on current sitting UK MPs (whilst also keeping bookmarks of stuff to read after that, such as party articles or those on MPs not now sitting but that are names recognisable to me). 2012 is going to be my year of UK politics, I have decided. There's no harm in doing this and, as I say, a little tidying gets done along the way. But I don't feel I have the balance between doing *real* *work* and keeping things suitably enjoyable and motivating quite right. Perhaps I will do a second and much more arduous pass of the articles and start doing some proper writing. There's quite a few new MPs that got elected for the first time in 2010 and their articles can be quite short, so there's plenty of scope for substantial contributions. Bodnotbod

On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 10:53 AM, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote: I shan't commit to that today, but I shall certainly consider it. I haven't done anything like that before. This... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OTRS ...seems to be what I need to familiarise myself with. My first observation is that my request email to the MPs office is going to be a tough long read for them what with having to... well, you sort have to give them an education in licensing don't you? I suppose that can't really be avoided. That makes it quite a job. Bodnotbod

On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, Thomas Morton wrote: I can't remember who I had this discussion with but someone Wikimedia UK-related, I'm sure. Basically, one thing we could do once we have charity status is actually approach the Houses of Parliament and for some volunteers affiliated with WMUK to become official photographers, and to include that in the list of things MPs either have to or are encouraged to do when they return after the next election. This is the sort of thing we can do as a chapter even if doing it as an individual is a pain in the ass. -- Tom Morris <http://tommorris.org/>

On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 3:05 PM, Charles Matthews &lt;charles.r.matthews(a)ntlworld.com&gt; wrote: There is a long and venerable history of such collections of portraits of the 'grand and the good'. My reading on collections of images includes collections such as 'virorum literis illustrium', 'icones virorum illustrium', 'vitae virorum illustrium' and so on. I'm pleased to see we have an article on the topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_viris_illustribus Though that refers to biographical collections, at some point the act of illustrating them caught on as well. Or of simply making or collecting portraits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovio_Series Carcharoth